Vigil behind City Hall calls for stronger gun control

Worcester City Councilor Sarai Rivera, left, co-senior pastor of the Christian Community Church, leads people in prayer last night at a vigil behind City Hall decrying gun violence.

Spurred on by Friday's school shootings in Connecticut, 15 people gathered behind City Hall last night for a candlelight vigil in which they called for stronger gun laws, including a ban on all assault weapons, to address the epidemic of gun violence in this country.

The participants said the public should demand that their elected officials immediately take up legislation that would lead to tougher gun control laws.Dante Comparetto, the organizer of the vigil, said no one is looking to take away anyone's constitutional rights, but he said something needs to be done to about gun violence.

He said there are more than 10,000 shooting deaths a year in this country. He added that there have been 31 school shootings in the United States since the deadly Columbine rampage in 1999.

“I'm mad,” Mr. Comparetto said in reference to the massacre of 26 children and adults at a Connecticut elementary school. “How many more time are we going to allow things like this to happen? When is our government going to do something about gun violence? We don't need to trample over the Second Amendment, but we do need tougher gun control. This (violence) just needs to stop, but to do that we will have to overcome the powerful NRA and other gun lobbies.”

The City Hall vigil was one of 250 held nationwide that were organized through moveon.org, according to Mr. Comparetto.

Among those who attended the vigil behind City Hall were District 4 City Councilor Sarai Rivera, state Rep.-elect Mary Keefe, D-Worcester, and Ronal Madnick, president of the Committee for Progressive Legislation.

Ms. Rivera, who is co-senior pastor of the Christian Community Church, opened the vigil by leading the group in a very emotional prayer for the Connecticut school-shooting victims and their families, as well as for the people of Newtown, Conn.

“We grieve together,” Ms. Rivera said. “There is a nation that is crying; many hearts are broken today. Our hearts go to these families, our hearts go to that community. This is something that is occurring way too often and something must be done. Gun violence cannot continue to be tolerated.”

Mr. Madnick called for bringing back the 10-year-old federal ban on the manufacture and sale of assault weapons that was allowed to expire in 2004. He said assault weapons are meant to kill a large number of people very quickly.

“There is no need for them,” he said. “How long must we have vigils like this? How often are we going to have to keep coming back? We need to bring back the ban on assault weapons. Things have to be done and they have to be done now. We need to demand that our elected officials respond to this.”

Mr. Madnick and Mr. Comparetto also called for more thorough background checks of individuals wanting to buy a gun to make sure they are “mentally capable” and do not have a criminal record. Mr. Madnick said 40 percent of guns that were purchased in this country were done so without any kind of background check.

In addition, he said the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives should be given greater resources so it can more effectively enforce existing gun laws. He said those states that have higher percentages of gun ownership also happen to have the highest percentage of homicides by guns.

Ms. Keefe, meanwhile, stressed the importance of “building community and strengthening community” in the wake of Friday's tragedy.

“When something like this happens, people tend to become isolated,” Ms. Keefe said. “We should all recommit and reconnect to our neighbors.”